I know enough of your craft, sir smith, and of craftsmen in general, to be aware that men lure not hawks with empty hands; but I suppose my word may pass for the price of a good armour, and I will pay it thee, with thanks to boot, for this slight service." "Your Highness may know other craftsmen," said the smith; "but, with reverence, you know not Henry Gow.

He will obey you in making a weapon, or in wielding one, but he knows nothing of this petticoat service." "Hark thee, thou Perthshire mule," said the Prince, yet smiling, while he spoke, at the sturdy punctilio of the honest burgher; "the wench is as little to me as she is to thee.

But in an idle moment, as you may learn from those about thee, if thou sawest it not thyself, I did her a passing grace, which is likely to cost the poor wretch her life.

There is no one here whom I can trust to protect her against the discipline of belt and bowstring, with which the Border brutes who follow Douglas will beat her to death, since such is his pleasure." "If such be the case, my liege, she has a right to every honest man's protection; and since she wears a petticoat--though I would it were longer and of a less fanciful fashion--I will answer for her protection as well as a single man may.

But where am I to bestow her ?" "Good faith, I cannot tell," said the Prince.